Today the Israel Lobby Archive released declassified Department of Justice and FBI files on the shift AIPAC founder Isaiah L. Kenen made from registered foreign agent to stealth lobbying:
 
Declassified US Department of Justice (DOJ) files about AIPAC founder Isaiah L. Kenen are now online at http://www.IRmep.org/ila/Kenen
 
WASHINGTON, Nov. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Six decades ago Americans working as registered Israeli foreign agents launched New York, Washington and Los Angeles "Israel Office of Information (IOI)" branches. Newly declassified records document IOI actions that forever changed foreign government lobbying on Capitol Hill.
The 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) was strictly enforced at that time to shield the US Congress and American citizens from the effects of foreign propaganda and stealth lobbying. FARA required biannual disclosure of all propaganda activities on behalf of foreign principals to the DOJ. Beleaguered by reporting requirements and citations for deficient declarations, IOI director Isaiah L. Kenen coordinated shifting Israel lobbying away from FARA oversight, as he later noted in his book Israel's Defense Line:
 
"Israelis began looking for a lobbyist to promote the necessary legislation...would I leave the Israeli delegation for six months to lobby on Capitol Hill?
 
"There were other questions. Should I continue my registration as an agent of the Israel government? Was it appropriate for an embassy to lobby? Embassies talked to the State Department, and American voters talked to their congressmen."
 
Archival records reveal that on January 17, 1951, the Justice Department ordered Kenen to reregister if he left IOI to continue lobbying and public relations for the government of Israel. Kenen instead left IOI to lobby for arms and foreign aid legislation at the American Zionist Council (AZC) while continuing to receive Israeli government funding. The AZC's "Kenen Committee" later launched Madison Avenue publicity, media and university honorarium payments while funding Washington and grassroots lobbying. In 1962, the DOJ also ordered the AZC to register as a foreign agent after discovering the AZC received the equivalent of $35 million from Israel. But after three years of secret legal maneuvers, the AZC negotiated and filed a secret FARA declaration before closing down in 1965.
Kenen then led lobbying at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee until retiring as chairman in 1975.
 
Today's document release includes Kenen's personal FARA declarations and filings Kenen made as director of the IOI, DOJ deficiency notices, and FBI investigative inquiries in the FARA section's working files: http://www.IRmep.org/ila/Kenen. The Israel Lobby Archive is a unit of the Institute for Research:
Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep) in Washington.
 
 
SOURCE Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy